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Friday, October 3

Custom Storyboard Giveaway!

I am excited to announce that I will start designing a few free storyboard templates for the CoffeeShop. Would you please comment here on your favorite size, number and size of photo cutouts, types (baby, wedding, kids, floral, etc.), and favorite colors? I am pretty new to storyboard design so I would welcome any suggestions/preferences you have. I am so excited to be learning something new!

In a few days I will randomly select one comment and for that person I will design a free custom template for them (which I will then release on this website for everyone to download).

Thanks so much for helping me out here!

In a few days I will also be posting a tutorial on making your own custom brushes/watermarks. And in the works is a step-by-step tutorial on the painted borders technique. I have so much I want to do here, but finding the time is always a challenge, so thank you so much for your patience.

I want to thank everyone who visits the CoffeeShop! Your kind words and your beautiful work you post at my CoffeeShop Flickr Group makes it so worthwhile to me.

Hi Rita! I have followed your blog for a couple of months but this is my first comment. I have downloaded some of your actions, and think it is very generous of you to take the time to make them and then give them away for free! Thanks for that! I thought I'd enter your storyboard giveaway, even though I don't know a lot about them. It's like a montage template for photos, right? I have seen some of those on the wedding photography blogs that I have been following lately. I'm getting married in a month and a half! We have booked a photographer I believe to be great, and will be getting her high resolution photo files. Any montages or albums we will be doing our self. That is, I'll be doing it. :-) Maybe this is something I could use a storyboard for? The colors we have chosen for our wedding is silver and cream (invitations etc). For flowers I think it'll be cream and dark purple! I like it classic and tasteful. And I think a storyboard should help enhance and bring forward the photographs, not overpower them. What a fun giveaway! Good luck with the project.

wow! you are talented AND generous!!!! A lovely combination. I mostly take picture of my kids.....and I'm still pretty photoshop novice so I don't really know much about storyboards. (except that they look great when I see others)

Well, this is interesting. I can't wait to find out exactly what a story board might be. Something used for scrapbooking? If so, that is something I would be interested in because I very much want to do some pages that depict life on our little ranch. I've just begun to learn about scrapbooking so is just a guess. We have mules, donkeys, dogs, chickens, wildflowers and cactus as well as photos of our big red barn, tractor, etc.

I am really excited about this! I think a wedding storyboard would be fantastic. I'd love to see a 16x20 with a large focal cutout and then several other cutouts around it. I'm a big BW fan but maybe a splash of color...red?

i happened upon your blog when i was looking for GIMP info a few weeks ago. i think that it's awesome that you are sharing with the rest of us out here-that might feel lost and inadequate, like i do sometimes. i only have 3 kiddos, so i'd have to say that a story board for 3 pics would be great...maybe with seasonal touches/colors. and storyboards with 4 would be great, too-in my family for individual storyboards for my kiddos. some girlie themed ones and some boy themed ones, i think would be great. my dd is 4 and into princesses (ugh!) AND soccer and my oldest ds is a skater wannabee soccer player...my youngest ds is just a baby...so something softer?!?

Sadly I don't have much to contribute as far as storyboards. I have seen a few on other sites that looked great. Personally I think the series of pictures being grouped help determine the best storyboard. But for what its worth, my 2 cents is a wedding themed one (since my wedding is next week, its all I have on the brain these days.) Good luck, I can't wait to see what you come up with. Love your site.

I like simple storyboards...maybe 5-7 openings of different sizes. I also like the idea of black or white which make just about every photo stand out. I love your actions and thank you so much for the freebies. Your the best.

Hi! How very cool that you're taking suggestions for your storyboard template! I'd love to see a storyboard with room for 5 images. I prefer white background with a thin black border around the images, but perhaps you could design it so that the color choice is step during the action. Right now I'm really into scrolling/swirls with low opacity. Maybe the template could include a subtle design/pattern that goes behind the pictures. Or (lots of ideas are coming to me now!), perhaps a step during the action would be to add an image which would be used at lower opacity as the background.

YAY...I LOVE storyboards, but can't seem to do 'em myself!! You're so sweet to offer this fun contest! I'm so excited to see what you come up with!! :)

Here's my 2-cents:I love the "family" themed ones, w/maybe 5 openings, different sizes(5x7 being the biggest). I think simple b/w or subtle color would be more universal. Also if there was a simple word to go w/it (ex. "family") in a fun font, would be neat.

My favourite size for Storyboards would be 8x12, and I'd like to try a 12x18 someday, but I think that would be rather costly to frame (I just make them for personal use).

If you were to create a square, than 4 or 6 photos would look super cute, and for a length-wise one like 8x12, I love the look of one larger picture in the center, with two smaller one flanking on either side. They can be all the same height, but different widths. I love a clean white background with black & white photos. And just some text above and/or below.

Hope this helps a little. Can't wait to see what you create! Thanks again for all you do.

I'm new to the storyboard layouts also so I'm not sure what to tell you. The ones I've used so far have had 4 pictures, and the other one had 13 pictures. The 13 picture one has one large picture in the middle and 12 smaller ones around it. I liked it a lot and used it for a birth announcement.

Yay!!! I love making storyboards but they take FOREVER!!! Some great actions would be AWESOME!! Can yours be PSE compatible? Please, pretty please!!!

A storyboard with 5 good sized photos (at least 5x5 each) would be awesome! I do a lot of kid's portraits and it would be great to have a board that can span an entire year. I know I'd love to have one of each of my boys. In a 5 photo board you could have a newborn, 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 12 month picture.

This is awesome and I can't wait. I've been looking for some storyboards recently. I love ur actions and look at ur blog almost daily for new stuff. I agree with the b + w.with a touch of color something universal. Also I like the idea of a text on it. I personally like doing maternity and newborn so a 3-5 picture one would be perfect. I am just starting in photography and can't wait to see what u decide. I know this is something almost everyone can use. I've also seen some I like with 1 bigger pictue to the side and 3 smaller ones on the other side making almost a square when ur done but I really like longer rectangle ones myself. Thanks again for the contest and this template. Tanya

I just wanted to thank you for being so generous with your actions. Your's are the first ones I have used and I am in love. I am excited for your storyboards and your ability to try something new and figure it out. Thanks for all!

Rita, Rita, are you not busy enough? But if you are willing how about which ever theme you choose also make it have the option of being generic? Is that even possible? The way the majority would be able to utilize it. Listen to me - what are storyboard, anyway?:) Claudia

First of all....bless your heart for making our lives easier! I like 10x20 storyboards with 3 pictures all the same size, black or white background ....I love the idea of a storyboard because it would let me incorporate several sides of my kids' personality (lord knows you can never get it in just one shot!)

My son will turn 1 in December, and I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE a storyboard with 12 small pictures (one from each month) and then a big one for his 1st birthday). I'd love to display it at his 1st party~ December is coming fast so I need to learn quickly!

I am just getting into photography and one of my favorite things is to look at wedding things {I like the photography and the stationary). One of my favorite sites uses multiple size storyboards {Style Me Pretty}, I hope you don't mind me posting there name.I Just found your site and I'm inspired!

Hello Rita! I am a big fan of your blog and have been wanting to thank you for your actions and tutorials - they are wonderful! And I am SO excited about your upcoming storyboard posts. I have been taking pictures for many years now and have been wanting to create my own storyboards but never got around to it. I look at the price that studios charge and it is unbelievable. That is why I would love to learn to create my own. I mostly take pictures of my two kids, a 4 year daughter and a 9 month old son. I have seen a couple examples I liked that contain three photos, both in landscape and portrait modes. I believe the dimensions were 10x20, which is nice because frames in this size are easier to find. Another one I really love is the square storyboard, which I believe I've seen in 12x12 and 20x20. I was thinking of having one larger photo in the top left corner of the square and four small pictures veritcally down the right side and three more horizontal across the bottom to form like a backwards "L" against the larger photo in the top left. As for colors, I always like the traditional black & white theme. An autumn-colored theme with dark reds/golden yellow/burnt sienna might be nice as well. I hope this helps. I can't wait to what you have in store for us. Thanbks again for all of the useful photography knowledge!!

I forgot to mention that Ikea has some nice and inexpensive frames that the storyboards would be perfect in. They are called "Ribba" frames and the dimensions are as follows: 12x35 inches with 5 photo openings and a 3 photo version that is 9x19 inches.

i love story boards i am trying to make one for a gift right now LOL i am makiing an 11*14 but i want a ton of pics on it cause it is for my son's soccer coach but for everyday stuff i like less then ten in my story boards

I agree with the 3-5 picture storyboards. It would be so neat for you to incorporate a way to show how to do the verbage/text but for it to be in a layer so we could do our own thing. I know I personally need to get it going with a baby, family, senior and engagement storyboard template and I've been searching. ALSO - can you reccomend the best place to get those bad boys printed with the exact specs? Thanks! You are the bomb. Your color actions rock my world.

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My name is Rita and I am a work-at-home/homeschooling Mom to two amazing boys (Duke is 14 and Imp is 11) in Texas and passionate about photography and photo-editing.

If you love using my free CoffeeShop creations and would like to make a donation to Rita the self-professed geek of CoffeeShop, please follow this link! This blog is possible because of your generous support.